Happy Thanksgiving!

May God bless you and your family.

And may we remember in our prayers those who must go without.

I Voted!

Today I voted! By absentee ballot, of course. I wanted to post about it for a few reasons.
First, to encourage everyone to vote! I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, because everyone has the right to choose. I'm also not going to tell you in this post who I voted for, partly because working in a church makes things like that a little tricky. Most of you probably know anyway, but if you want to know, you can ask via email.
Second, because this is an historic election. I don't care who you support, you have to acknowledge that. And it's because of candidates for both major parties! We have an African American AND a woman on the ballot this year! Awesome. I have to admit, I got a little emotional when I was looking at my ballot.
Please take the opportunity to be part of history and VOTE. If you don't vote, you don't deserve to complain about the outcome. And if you're still undecided, my advice is to read about each candidates stand on the issues on each of their websites and make your decision based on what they have to say about themselves, NOT on what the other candidate says about them and the mudslinging that is occuring in both directions.
Whatever the outcome, the next president is going to have a tough job turning this country around. Pray for them. (BOTH of them.)

Prepare to be shocked...

I baked an apple crisp from scratch!
Those of you who know me well know that I do not cook or bake often. However, last Saturday I engaged in a wonderful fall activity and went apple-picking with some friends and came home with a bag full of yummy Braeburn, Empire, and Golden Delicious apples (I like the sweet ones). Since I am just one person and would likely not be able to eat all the apples I brought home before they went bad, I decided to get domestic for a change and bake something. An apple crisp seemed to be the easiest to attempt. I used the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Maybe not perfect, as I think the butter could have been blended better among the other topping ingredients, but I was satisfied.
See for yourself!

October already?!

One month of internship down, eleven to go! It sounds like a lot still, but this first month or so has actually gone fairly quickly and I'm sure as I get even busier and start taking on more tasks at the church (like preaching, which I begin doing this Sunday!! pray for me!!) time will fly by.
With the arrival of October it's starting to feel a little more like fall. While summer remains my favorite season, I do appreciate fall for it's beautiful colors and delicious apple- and pumpkin-themed food and, of course, football season!

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought I would use this post to make readers aware (if you aren't already) of two very easy things you can do to help.
1. The Breast Cancer Site is a website where all you have to do is go and click and sponsors who advertise on their website will donate money to fund free mammograms for women who can't afford them. It's so easy, free, and takes maybe 30 seconds. I keep the site on my bookmarks toolbar and click on it several times a day. (There are also other causes you can click on, such as hunger and the environment.) www.thebreastcancersite.com
2. If you're a yogurt-lover like I am, make your yogurt choice this month Yoplait. If you save the pink lids and mail them in they donate money for each lid they receive to breast cancer research.

And don't forget, ladies, to get your yearly mammogram (once you hit 35/40) and remind the women in your life to do it too! (And while we're talking about cancer screening, tell your men, if they're over 40/50, to get a prostate exam!)

Wisdom from some other words

I've been reading a lot of great stuff lately, mostly books that I've either bought or added to my "must read" list over the past few years when I was taking classes and didn't have time to read anything other than assigned material. Here's a few great quotes I've come across...

A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, anabaptist/anglican, methodist, catholic, green, incarnational, depressed-yet-hopeful, emergent, unfinished Christian by Brian McLaren

[Quoting theologian David Bosch] "According to Bosch: 'We cannot point to any other way of salvation than Jesus Christ; at the same time, we cannot set limits to the saving power of God... We appreciate this tension, and do not attempt to resolve it.' This means that anathemas and damnation can be invoked rarely if at all, which will disappoint all who have grown accustomed to resolving the above paradox by means of their invocation... For the rest of us, rather than resolving the paradox via pronouncements on the eternal destiny of people more convinced by or loyal to other religions than ours, we simply move on (as Jesus told his disciples to do), giving all the respect and honor due those who are not convinced by our message (with the meekness Jesus taught), rather than calling down fire from heaven on them (as Jesus his disciples not to do)."

"If enough of us can bear the truth of our failures as Christians, if we can let that truth humble us and bring us from denial to sincere and profound repentance, if our hearts are made soft and responsive to the Holy Spirit through this painful but needed process, then there truly is hope in the midst of depression."

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis

"The best public contribution of religion is precisely not to be ideologically predictable or a loyal partisan. To always raise the moral issues of human rights, for example, will challenge both left- and right-wing governments that put power above principles. Religious action is rooted in a much deeper place than 'rights' - that place being the image of God in every human being."

Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, & Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner

"We are all of us Pilate in our asking after truth, and when we come to church to ask it, the preacher would do well to answer us also with silence because the truth and the Gospel are one, and before the Gospel is a word, it too like truth is silence - not an ordinary silence, silence as nothing to hear, but silence that makes itself heard if you listen to it the way Pilate listens to the silence of the man with the split lip."

"Truth itself cannot be stated. Truth simply is, and is what is, the good with the bad, the joy with the despair, the presence and absence of God... Before it is a word, the Gospel that is truth is silence, a pregnant silence in its ninth month, and in answer to Pilate's question, Jesus keeps silent, even with his hands tied behind him manages somehow to hold silence out like a terrible gift."

Modern day Good Samaritan tale... without the Good Samaritan

Walking on by.
I ran across this story/post on my favorite blog. I totally agree with PittGirl's thoughts on this one, and particularly appreciated her point at the end: "The moment we stop being affected by violent deaths is the moment we stop being human."

Then I read through the comments people posted in response. I was pretty annoyed with the people who likely do not, and never will, live in a neighborhood like the one in the story and think they know what they're talking about. Yes, the story likely has a lot of complexities to it, and yes, this is obviously a neighborhood that needs a lot of help and needs to get at the root causes of their problems. But my biggest problem here is that people are so quick to make a judgment on the situation and neighborhood and aren't dealing with the big issues. There's a person laying dying or dead on a sidewalk and nobody cares?! Where is the love for our neighbor? And if the people of that neighborhood see so many dead bodies that they're unaffected by one more, are we just going to accept that and move on with our own lives? Or are we going to make a difference in that neighborhood and in the world?

Where is the love?

Wisdom from the Word

Since coming to my internship congregation, I've begun to use the daily devotion booklets that they provide, which are published by Augsburg Fortress, and called "Christ in Our Home". The daily devotions provide a Scripture reading, a reflection on that reading, and a prayer. It is a simple way to take five minutes at the beginning of my day to center myself on God.

Today's Scripture and reflection were just right for some of the frustrations I occasionally feel working in the church, which I wrote about in my last post (Ramblings). I wanted to share some of what I read as further reflection on my previous post.

The Scripture passage is Romans 16:17-20, and the author focuses specifically on verse 17: "I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them."

While I thought that initially this message was a little harsh, the author's reflection helped me look at it from a different perspective... "In today's reading, Paul is talking about people who purposely bring division and place obstacles into the paths of others. We know the type; we know only too well that sometimes we are this type. We can let division and obstacles block our walk with Christ -- or we can step around them and continue on."